{"data":{"id":"us/7-cfr-4284.925","jurisdiction":"us","citation":"7 CFR 4284.925","heading":"Allowable uses of grant and Matching Funds.","body":"(a) Planning grants. Funds may only be used to pay a Qualified Consultant to conduct and develop a Feasibility Study, Business Plan, and/or Marketing Plan associated with the post-harvest processing and/or marketing of a Value-Added Agricultural Product.\n(b) Working capital grants. Funds may be used to pay the Project's eligible post-harvest operational costs directly related to the processing and/or marketing of the Value-Added Agricultural Product. Examples of eligible working capital expenses include purchasing a financial accounting system for the Project; paying salaries of employees (excluding owners and Immediate Family) to process and/or market and deliver the Value-Added Agricultural Product to consumers; paying for additional Agricultural Commodity inventory (less than 50 percent of the amount required for the Project) from an unaffiliated third party, necessary to produce the Value-Added Agricultural Product; paying for a marketing campaign for the Value-Added Agricultural Product; paying costs incurred in obtaining post-harvest Food Safety certification; and using up to $6,500 of the amount of a grant to purchase or upgrade post-harvest Equipment to improve Food Safety.","path":["Title 7—Agriculture","Subtitle B—Regulations of the Department of Agriculture","CHAPTER XLII—RURAL BUSINESS-COOPERATIVE SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE","PART 4284—GRANTS","Subpart J—Value-Added Producer Grant Program"],"source_url":"https://www.ecfr.gov/api/versioner/v1/full/2026-08-25/title-7.xml","current_through":"2026-08-25","vintage":"","retrieved_at":"2026-08-27T02:24:01Z","sha256":"d0a7836893687e0bea668e3fb23f0019e64a8fa1733754de8ed996e34fc67c90","source_id":"us-cfr","stale":true,"prev":"us/7-cfr-4284.924","next":"us/7-cfr-4284.926"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}